Results, style, and arrogance—Savior has it all, and his recent win over Midas was a big “fuck you” to all the fanboys who thought Midas’ group stage win over Savior was anything more than a tough loss on a tough map.
I’m angry at Midas. As the second best player in the world, I give him good odds against any player but Savior, and yet Midas was dumb enough to choose Savior twice. The decision was both stupid and disrespectful to the fans, all of whom, I imagine, were hoping to see Savior and Midas duke it out in a Bo5 final. I hope the Dual Tournament is as unpleasant as it sounds.
If Casy were a mixed drink—work with the analogy, please—his recipe would go something like this: layer two parts skill (TvZ and TvT) over one part luck (TvP), being careful not to break the surface tension on the luck. All it takes for Casy to get eliminated from a tournament, no matter how strong his TvZ and TvT are looking, is to run into a single Protoss during the single-elimination stage. But luckily for Casy, it’s not even possible for that to happen until the finals, meaning that we get to enjoy his sublime TvZ and TvT for at least a little while longer. As I stated last month, Casy is my pick to win the OSL.
Despite an early MSL exit, Much is still in the OSL, and he’s looking as strong as ever. His games against GoRush were both stylish and dominant, but I give him no more than a Twinkie’s chance in July’s hands against Savior.
He just won’t lose, and that’s more than I can say for everyone below him. Ra’s had some really good luck lately, though, with a list of cream-puff opponents in the MSL (Bifrost sucks and Xellos is slumping—again) and no Proleague matches for which to practice. That said, he’ll probably make the MSL finals; Hwasin and Bisu are both pretty weak vP.
I wanted to drop Hwasin off the list entirely after his loss to Zergman, but then he managed to beat Light in what was probably the ugliest TvT series ever. I still don’t think he’s as good as the statistics imply (and the 0-2 against Zergman has gone a long way towards proving that notion), but making it relatively deep into both Starleagues has to be worthy of some degree of preferential treatment.
There’s only one reason Yarnc is on this list, and it’s because of his win against oov. Both games in that series were virtuoso performances. In the second game, he demonstrated the only way to win a ZvT on HitchHiker: completely and totally outclass your opponent. Also of note is that Yarnc has somehow managed to get both his ZvZ and ZvP winning percentages above 50% (for 2006, anyway), indicating that he might not be quite the pushover in those matchups that he used to be, and he’s climbed to #10 on the KeSPA rankings as of February. Time will tell if he belongs, but for now, I’m content to put him at the #7 slot.
Just like Casy has had great luck lately, Light has had horrible luck. Five TvTs in a row—five. He’s 1-4 during those games, and they managed to get him eliminated from both Starleagues. But that doesn’t change the fact that he made both Starleagues in the first place and has absolutely amazing TvZ and TvP. He’s still one of the hottest players out there—in the right matchups.
This was by far the most frustrating slot for me to award. Despite trudging forward in both the OSL and Survivor League, Nada just isn’t playing very well—at all. His only bright spot lately is his TvT—which is all he’s really needed to play—and a combination of maps and good luck might be enough for him to continue advancing, but his skill is much, much lower than it was last season.
I’m still not willing to give up on GGPlay. He had the second highest winning percentage of 2006 (behind only Savior), and after watching each and every one of his games from this OSL, I’m convinced that he’s as good as ever. His losses have been a combination of bad luck, bad maps, and tiny mistakes. He was literally one attack away from going 2-0 against FirebatHero. Once the maps improve and the Proleague returns, GGPlay should be back in force. His recent games would ordinarily be enough to get him booted from the Power Rankings, but there isn’t anyone more deserving. Everyone else who might deserve this spot has shown some degree of really unimpressive play recently.
Zergman – Your ZvZ has been strong for a while, and you’re finally showing the potential for ZvT competence—but I need to see more.
Bisu – Your play against Light was sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. You only won because Light has a habit of using really stupid builds at times. And I say this as someone with a passionate love for you.
Up – What the hell were you thinking? You had an strong economic advantage against Nada, and instead of just out-massing him, you decided to… to… waste all your money on missile turrets and battlecruisers? Get out of my sight.
FirebatHero – I like you—and you’re a pretty decent player—but you do not deserve your current spot in the OSL. Casy is going to dominate you.
Bifrost – You and I both know that the only reason I even mentioned you in this section of the Power Rankings is because of Desert Fox.
Iris – You are always warm, never hot, and your TvZ is god-awful. That display against Nal_Keke was pathetic.
Added because of SiZ.FaNtAsY's very reasonable request:
July - Your game against GoodFriend was the absolute worst play I have ever seen from a professional BW player. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I only considered you very briefly for the #10 slot before saying, "I need more."
I understand if July doesn't make the list, but not even a "Close but no cigar"? He made it to MSL for next season I think, and he did really well in the Proleague finals, beating oov, xellos and dominating the wildcards, and he performed really well agaisnt casy too, but casy is a monster. I demand my fatzerg be at least in "Close but no cigar"!
A frustrating bottom 5 indeed. None of them are really deserving, but there isn't anyone better to pick. Nice list as always Etter, will write my thoughts on it later.
Used to be, back in the day, you needed to win more than your Dual group and two OSL group games to be recognized.
I mean, that's all he did right? You have to look at the quality of opposition.
Beating TT, JiHyun, Yellow[Arnc] (on Longinus 2!) and FireBatHero on an island map TvT. That does NOT deserve this kind of attention. Especially when done by a Terran. Come on Etter. He doesn't belong anywhere near that list.
There's been an UpMagic in every OSL since they switched to 24-players. A guy goes 3-0 in their group against lower opponents, and he gets bumped in the elimination tourneys against quality opposition. Think of Bisu from last OSL.
That's what I said.
But anyway, I love your comments as always etter, even though I seldom agree with the ranking. Great read.
On February 02 2007 19:45 [Carlodajin] wrote: AnyTime[gm] and JJu should be on the list...but for djetter they arent performing as expected T_T... I hope they are in the next power rank...
Do you understand what a power rank is at all lol?
Also- I'm glad Yarnc is in it, he deserves it, this list is about the hottest players at the moment (the past month) and he definitely is. I don't think he's that great either overall but this list is hottest in the last month and Yarnc definitely is. I said right from early on that Upmagic would be off the list. His second game against NaDa was pretty good but overall he's just not that good yet...not top 10 in the world good. I used to not like GGPlay but after watching him the past month I agree he is really really good and deserves his spot.
Overall I really really like your list. Saying the 6-10 spots don't deserve to be on the list just proves how far ahead in talent savior and midas are, and less so the other 3 in the top 5. The bottom 5 do deserve their spots as there is no one better to get them. So nice list, if I had to make one it would look almost exactly like this and that's coming from someone that has watched every OSL and MSL game from the past month; I haven't watched every proleague game but I still pretty much know how everyone is doing.
On February 02 2007 20:25 Mirage wrote: Anytime[gm] should be up there :D also july should not being on the close but no cigar...That game vs. goodfriend was horrible.
July did pretty well against Casy and at least made the 16ro of OSL. What has Anytime done lately? Nothing.
I think UpMagic and Hwasin both showed that they just arent up to the level of the rest of the top class pros. UpMagic just cant play a long game too well imo, dude comes up with nice early play but that can only work for so long. And I found it extremely symbolic that the 3rd game of his BO3 vs Nada was on Arkanoid, a map where he simply cannot do something too cheesy. He still tried but;]
Anytime is a joke. When was the last time he won a game? Game 4 vs NaDa? lol -_-;;
OH no wait he won ONE game vs darkelf but he got stomped anyways.
No BoxeR? Yeah, OK, so one game, but it was such an ART game. fake yellow is only on there because of two games, and BoxeR's one game was more artsy than those 2 combined anyways. And BoxeR has gotten so little practise! s2 at least a close, no cigar ^^
Yeah, GGPlay has pretty game, but he was booted out of the only league he was in by FireBatHero, who took him apart. Between those two players, they are only playing in the one league, and FBH > GGPlay. That stupid zergs record from LAST YEAR shouldnt matter, all that should matter is that you have a bias against terrn players because of the maps, and FBH >>> GGPlay all day long. There are no other results that can sway the vote.
Also, what the hell is wrong with Iris, except that he is beating everyone he faces? That MINOR LeAGUE series against a lucky mustashioed keke doesnt matter, this man is going prime time in the OSL, and that should count. More that Light anyways. This shouldnt be on his percieved skill, it should be on his results, and a 2-0 RAPING of gf is a good result.
Lastly, Iris and Zergman are going at it in the OSL. I think Zergman wil take the bo3 series, but whoever wins better be on your list next month etter.
On February 02 2007 22:20 Manifesto7 wrote: What the hell?
Yeah, GGPlay has pretty game, but he was booted out of the only league he was in by FireBatHero, who took him apart. Between those two players, they are only playing in the one league, and FBH > GGPlay. That stupid zergs record from LAST YEAR shouldnt matter, all that should matter is that you have a bias against terrn players because of the maps, and FBH >>> GGPlay all day long. There are no other results that can sway the vote.
Also, what the hell is wrong with Iris, except that he is beating everyone he faces? That MINOR LeAGUE series against a lucky mustashioed keke doesnt matter, this man is going prime time in the OSL, and that should count. More that Light anyways. This shouldnt be on his percieved skill, it should be on his results, and a 2-0 RAPING of gf is a good result.
Lastly, Iris and Zergman are going at it in the OSL. I think Zergman wil take the bo3 series, but whoever wins better be on your list next month etter.
I have a personal grudge against GGplay, so I don't want to argue against you there.
But Iris? Are you serious? His TvZ is the worst I've seen from a Top level Terran...ever. Bar none. Doggi is his daddy in TvZ. This is how pathetic it is. Fine, the games against Keke were in a minor league, but are you implying that he could beat an OSL Zerg in a series? No chance in hell.
I can't stand Iris. The fact that he's #4 Kespa is a damn joke. He's the Silver of Terran's. As soon as he runs out of TvT MUs he'll be a walk over for his first Z or P (who am I kidding, there are non) opponent.
Iris is a complete shmuck. Stealing 1 off games in group stages from random smatterings of Zergs doesn't mean shit to me.
Bottom line, when you need to mention 2-0ing GF as the big thing a player has done this month, it's obvious why he doesn't deserve a spot.
GGplay really should have dropped off though Etter. I know you like him, but he's blown it at almost every opportunity he's gotten in the past month. Maps or not, the guy has been playing like poop in comparison to his other top Zerg counterparts. They have the same map pool as him, so that should be the bar.
Iris is very capable TvP. He can play like shit at times (ie. vs Bisu in MSL), yes, but he also has nice games in the mu (vs Bisu in Proleague for instance).
His TvZ is bad, but not as bad as you make it out to be. And you can't compare him to Silver, because his TvT is brilliant, while Silver's ZvP isn't.
Edit: I'm one of GGPlay's biggest fans on here, but I have to admit, including him in this power rank is very generous of Etter.
Anytime definitely can't be on this list. Scrubbing out of the OSL 0-3 is one thing but losing a bo3 to Darkelf[s.sir] on nice PvT maps is inexcusable.
EPT
